[  http://www.Liberal-Insights.org/graphs.html  ]

Exclusive Graphs showing why Liberals &
Democrats should be winning elections
with America's "Christian vote",
instead of losing elections because of it.
Pages :  1    2   of   graphs.

(this page was viewed 10,205 times in 2008)

        The exclusive charts and data on this site – and others that we link to – illustrate two very important points that need to be made about religion and politics in America today.  Most of the data for this first chart comes from the extremely thorough polling and research made during the 1996 election cycle by the highly regarded Pew Charitable Trust. 
        More recent research (2005) shows that little has changed since the charts below were created for this web page.  Http://wid.ap.org/polls/050606religion.html , for example, shows the results of an extensive poll comparing 10 major countries, in which the U.S. was found to be much more religious and more willing to mix religion and politics than any of the others.
        The lack of interest in religion by the great majority of those in leadership positions in the Democratic Party has caused too many of them to underestimate its importance for a vast number of American voters.  The tendency of such Democrats to put their heads in the sand when it comes to religion is a recipe for political suicide. 
        The British empiricist philosopher, David Hume, once said,  " 'Tis impossible to refute a system, which has never been explained. In such a matter as fighting in the dark, a man loses his blows in the air, and often places them where the enemy is not present. "
        Far from becoming less important to Americans, research shows that religion is more important than ever to them,  at least on a superficial level. And, that is all it takes for religion to have serious political consequences.–

Americans who identify with churches:

        According to what people themselves say about their interest in religion, many more voters identify themselves with churches today than ever before in America.  But even when they don't go to any church, many Americans vote on what have come to be called "moral issues" as opposed to the so-called "economic issues" which motivate liberal Democrats.  This fact was brought home to me on election day in 2000 when I took a break from campaigning at the local McDonald's in a heavily populated, working-class neighborhood.  When I noticed a bunch of old bulls like myself talking politics, I asked if I could join them, assuming that I would be among friends.  But the minute they found out I was working for the Democrats they all pounced on me with something like "How can you support those baby killers?"  They and their families and their country were getting screwed up one side and down the other, but for them, as for many other American voters, this religious view trumps everything else!  And as a minister, I assure you these weren't the kind of guys that I saw in church very often. 
        ( I say so-called "economic issues" because Democrats who think and refer to them only as economic are making a big mistake.  They could be having a much greater impact on people for whom morality decides their vote, if they stressed the moral dimension of who pays how much for government and who gets how much services from the government.  These people would respond if Democrats argued, as I do in many other pages of this web site, that what Republicans are all about is immoral, and contrary to the teaching of the Bible, while Democrats are all about doing exactly what the Bible says that people should do.
        In 2002, a Pew Research Council survey found that 82 percent of the U.S. populace considered itself to be Christian, while 10 percent identified with no religious group.

        When the Harris Poll did a study of the religious beliefs of today's U. S. electorate, they reported some very interesting findings at harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=359, among them :

  • The 90% of adults who believe in God include 93% of women, 96% of African-Americans and 93% of Republicans but only 86% of men, 85% of those with postgraduate degrees, and 87% of political independents.
  • The 84% of those who believe in the survival of the soul after death include 89% of women but only 78% of men, 86% of those without a college degree but only 78% of those with postgraduate degrees.
  • The 84% of the public who believe in miracles falls to 72% among those with postgraduate degrees, and rises to 90% among women and 90% among African-Americans.
  • The 82% who believe in heaven includes 89% of women but only 75% of men and falls to 71% among people aged 25 to 29 and those with postgraduate degrees.
  • The survey findings show that a large majority of Americans consider religion important in their personal lives and closely associate religion and morality. Furthermore, Pew Forum surveys over several years show that Americans are generally more comfortable (than Europeans) with religion playing a major role in public life.
    • Examples of points made by graphs on this page:
    7 of the smartest 10 states are consdiered "liberal"
    8 of the least smart 10 states are consdiered "conservative".

    6 of the 10 states with the lowest divorce rates are consdiered "liberal".
    10 of the 10 states with highest divorce rates are consdiered "conservative".

    4 of the 5 states with the lowest rates of teen pregnancy are consdiered "liberal".
    5 of the 5 states with the highest rates of teen pregnancy are consdiered "conservative".

    17 of the 21 states with highest murder rates are consdiered "conservative".

    8 of the 8 states with the lowest suicide rates are consdiered "liberal".
    8 of the 8 states with the highest suicide rates are red.

    Only 3 blue states believe in executing children.
    16 red states believe in executing children.

            The next graph is exclusive to this web site, as I myself created it, to illustrate the extremely valuable information collected by the Pew Trust.  This graph may explain why liberals and Democrats went from practically owning every major public office in this country fifty years ago to being practically locked out of most of them now.  Younger people may not realize it, and older people may have forgotten, but Democrats did far more than just control Congress following the "Great Depression."  During the 36 years prior to Nixon's taking the White House in 1968, the only Republican to sit in the oval office was World War II hero, Gen. "Ike" Eisenhower.  And with control of the presidency came control of the Supreme Court.  And the Democratic Party not only controlled Congress during those years, but most of the state legislatures, the state houses and the leadership of the major cities throughout the country as well.
            What has happened since 1968 to turn all of that on its head, so that between 1968 and 1992, Democrats were able to win the presidency for only the four Carter years?  Why have Democrats been denied majorities in both houses of Congress, and the state houses of several of our most populous states: New York, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, Florida, Massachusetts, and until recently, even California?  Democrats have even been denied the leadership of several of our largest Democratic cities!
            The reasons, to be sure, are numerous, but one of the principal ones, I would argue, is the brave, generous, very moral, but very costly stand which Democrats took under the leadership of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and Vice President Hubert Humphrey, to reverse America's racist past, for which L.B.J. rightly predicted the Democratic party would pay dearly, not just in the South, but nationwide.
            But I believe another major reason is illustrated in this next graph, which shows why liberals and/or Democrats   –  who seem to be courting the votes of the groups on the Left end of this chart (i.e. the non-religious 6% of the American electorate and the 2% of the voters who are Jewish)  –  are being trounced in the political arena by the conservatives and/or Republicans   –  who are making no bones about courting the three groups on the Right end of this chart:  white evangelicals, mainline white protestants and Roman Catholics.   –-  Each of the three blocks the G.O.P. is courting represents close to ="25%" of the population, adding up to 75% .  The G.O.P. is quite content to let the Democrats have the rest.  But as wonderful as the Jews, Muslims, the minorities and non-believers may be,  all together they only add up to a quarter of the voting public!  (The percentages have changed some since 1996, but while Republicans work to make the most of the situation, Democrats continue to be oblivious to it.)


            For the latest and most complete source of information about religious demographics,
    see www.adherents.com

    How Religious People were leaning:

            So long as Democrats settle for that one quarter of the pie, it is no wonder that they keep losing ground.  But this is especially sad, considering what the polling reveals, i.e.   that despite the efforts of the G.O.P. and their allies of the Religious Right,  and the lethargy of the Democrats,  the only religious group that actually favored the G.O.P. in the summer leading up to the 1996 elections was the "white evangelicals" and only by a surprisingly small margin at that!   If only the Democratic Party had capitalized on this dramatic advantage, instead of ignoring it,   the outcome of those elections might have been Democratic control of Congress, along with the Presidency!
            Click here for more recent, and very interesting statistics which show what portion of the electorate votes largely on the basis of moral values, and how that vote effected the outcome of the first election of this millennium: "Values Voters" in the 2000 election.
            Those who assume that the G.O.P. "owns" the Christian vote are simply mistaken.  They may even be contributing to a self-fulfilling prophecy, by repelling Christians into the arms of the Republican Party.  We "Liberals Like Christ" are trying to help our fellow Christians see that in America today the Democratic Party is much closer to the teaching of Jesus and the other great prophets of the Bible than is today's Republican Party.
            Conservatives, however, dominate to various degrees most of the white Christian churches in America today.  Even those that ARE sympathetic are so self-centered that they will do nothing to promote "Liberals Like Christ" because we do not promote their denomination.  So if word is going to get out about "Liberals Like Christ", it will only happen if liberals and Democrats like yourselves do it.
            See the parable of "the Stollen Inheritance"
            See articles by others that make this or similar points:
  • This one urges Democrats not to write off the "freestyle evangelicals" of America : .prospect.org/print-friendly/print/V15/4/mcgarvey-a.html.

    •        The chart below illustrates one of the principal reasons why the Democrats have lost so many offices to the Republican party, since their party embraced the rights of the few to be treated fairly by the many.
            For the 36 years after the Depression, The Democratic Party completely dominated not only Congress, but most state houses and the Supreme Court.  And the public kept a Democrat in the White House for all but the eight Eisenhower years.  Then came the promotion and passage of the Civil Rights & Voting bills of 1964 & 1968.  And that is when everything changed, almost overnight!

    Year :   1 9 6 8   Election 1 9 7 2   Election  
    Percentages
    for :      		Nixon Wallace Humphrey   Nixon McGovern  
    Alabama 14 67 19 74 26
    Arkansas 31 39 30 69 31
    Florida 41 29 31 72 28
    Georgia 30 43 27 75 25
    Louisiana 23 48 28 70 30
    Mississippi 14 63 23 80 20
    N. Carolina 40 31 29 71 29
    S. Carolina 38 32 30 72 28
    Tennessee 38 34 28 69 31
    Texas 40 19 41 67 33
    Virginia 44 24 33 69 31
    Averages: 32 % 39 % 29 % 72 % 28 %
    The profile of
    voters in the
    Deep South :    		 The conservative 71%
    split their votes between
    Nixon and Wallace.    		 The liberal 29%
    voted for
    the liberal Democrat.    		 The same
    conservative 72%
    (as in '68) went for
    Republican Nixon.    		 The same liberal
    28% (as in '68)
    voted for the
    liberal Democrat.
            Table designed by Ray Dubuque, using data extracted from the 1976 edition of "The Almanac of American Politics" ( one of the most respected reference books on the subject.)
    The Bottom Line:
            The former Confederate "Dixiecrat" states went from being solidly Democratic before the promotion and passage of the Civil Rights bills of '64 & '65 to voting 70% against the National Democratic Party thereafter.   And the vote for George Wallace shows exactly who moved from the pre-civil rights Democratic Party  to the post-civil rights Republican Party  and why.
            Although the effect was less dramatic in other parts of the country, it was one of the most important factors in the country going in a few short years from almost complete Democratic control of the U.S. Congress, many state legislatures, and the governorships of most states, to almost complete Republican control of most of those bodies, including some of the most Democratic of our states..  And from 1968 through 2008 only Republicans, and Democratic governors from the Deep South, have been able to win the presidency.

    When it comes to states with the highest
    vs. the lowest Divorce Rates
    ( i.e. per 1,000 for the year 2001 )
    All ten states
    with the highest
    Divorce rates
    are considered
    "CONSERVATIVE" :
    1. Nevada   6.8
    2. Arkansas   6.6
    3. Wyoming   6.1
    4. Idaho   5.6
    5. Kentucky   5.5
    6. Florida   5.4
    7. Mississippi   5.4
    8. Alabama   5.3
    9. Tennessee   5.2
    10. West Virginia   5.2
    Of the ten
    states with the
    lowest Divorce rates,
    six are considered
    "LIBERAL" :
    1. Pennsylvania   3.2
    2. Kansas   3.2 (conservative)
    3. Iowa   3.2 (conservative)
    4. Illinois   3.2
    5. New York   3.0
    6. Maryland   3.0
    7. Connecticut   2.9
    8. North Dakota   2.7 (conservative)
    9. Montana   2.6 (conservative)
    10. Massachusetts   2.4
    Sources:
          Table designed by Ray Dubuque, using data extracted from U.S Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract, 2003, Table No. 126

    When it comes to states with the highest
    vs. the lowest Divorce Rates
    ( i.e. per 1,000 for the year 2009 )
    All ten states
    with the highest
    Divorce rates
    are considered
    "CONSERVATIVE" :
    1. Nevada   6.6
    2. Arkansas   5.6
    3. Wyoming   5.2
    4. Idaho   5.0
    5. Kentucky   4.6
    6. Oklahoma 4.6
    7. Alaska 4.4
    8. Florida   4.3
    9. Maine   4.3
    10. Colorado   4.2
    Of the ten
    states with the
    lowest Divorce rates,
    six are considered
    "LIBERAL" :
    1. Wisconsin 3.0
    2. Maryland   2.8
    3. New Jersey  2.8
    4. Illinois   2.6
    5. North Dakota   2.5 (conservative)
    6. South Carolina   2.6 (conservative)
    7. New York   2.5
    8. Iowa   2.5 (conservative)
    9. Pennsylvania   2.3
    10. Massachusetts   1.8
    Sources:
          Table designed by Ray Dubuque, using data extracted from U.S Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract, 2009

    See the amazing number of leading liberal Democratic public servants
    who have stayed married to their original spouses for life!

    Teen Pregnancy Rates by state :
    Of the ten states
    with the highest
    rates of teen pregnancy    ,

    all but one
    are considered
    "CONSERVATIVE" :

    		 Nevada 113
    Arizona 104
    New Mexico 103
    Mississippi 103
    Texas 101
    Florida  97
    California  96
    Georgia  95
    N. Carolina  95
    Arkansas  93     		Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Liberal
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    .  .  .
    Four of the
    five states with
    the lowest rates
    are considered
    "LIBERAL" :     		Maine 52
    Minnesota 50
    New Hampshire 47
    Vermont 44
    North Dakota 42     		Liberal
    Liberal
    Liberal
    Liberal
    Conservative 
    Sources:
          Table designed by Ray Dubuque, using data extracted from Teen pregnancy rates, ages 15-19, The Alan Guttmacher Institute.

    Here's a more recent graph covering some of the same ground
    from the New York Times ( June 27, 2009 ):

    Murder Rate, by State,
    (assuming that states that voted for Kerry in 2004 were more Liberal,
    and those which voted for Bush were more Conservative)
    Arranged from highest murder rate to lowest.
    Of the 21 states
    with the highest
    Murder Rates

    All but four
    are considered
    "CONSERVATIVE" :     		 1 Louisiana 13.0
     2 Maryland   9.5
     3 Mississippi   9.3
     4 Nevada   8.8
     5 Arizona   7.9
     6 Georgia   7.6
     7 South Carolina   7.2
     8 Illinois   7.1
     9 California   6.8
    10 Tennessee   6.8
    11 Alabama   6.6
    12 Arkansas   6.4
    13 Texas   6.4
    14 Michigan   6.1
    15 North Carolina   6.1
    16 Alaska   6.0
    17 New Mexico   6.0
    18 Oklahoma   5.9
    19 Virginia   5.6
    20 Indiana   5.5
    21 Florida   5.4     		Conservative
    Liberal
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Liberal
    Liberal
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Liberal
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Conservative
    Sources:
          Table designed by Ray Dubuque, using data extracted from Murder Rates: FBI Uniform Crime Statistics for 2003.

    When it comes to states with the highest
    vs. the lowest Suicide rates
    ( i.e. per 100,000 for the year 2003 )
    The eight states with
    the highest Suicide rates are ALL
    considered "CONSERVATIVE" :
      The eight states with
      the lowest Suicide rates are ALL
      considered "LIBERAL" :
    1. Nevada   22.3
    2. Wyoming   20.4
    3. Montana   18.4
    4. New Mexico   18.3
    5. Arizona   16.0
    6. Alaska   15.5
    7. Oklahoma   14.7
    8. Idaho   14.5
    1. California   9.3
    2. Minnesota   9.2
    3. Maryland   8.4
    4. Illinois   8.4
    5. Connecticut   8.3
    6. Massachusetts   7.0
    7. New Jersey   6.9
    8. New York   6.6
    Source :   U.S Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract, Table No. 119

            "Looking at what might normally be considered "moral issues," the January 2005 issue of The American Prospect reported some startling comparative statistics on human behavior in red states and blue.
            In red states in 2001, there were 572,000 divorces; in blue states, only 340,000.
            That same year, in the red states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and New Mexico, 46.3 percent of all births were to unwed mothers; in blue states, the average was 31.7 percent.
    • The per capita rate of violent crime today in red states is 421 per 100,000; in blue states, it's 372 per 100,000.
    • As of 2000, the five states with the highest rates of alcohol abuse were red states. The five states with the highest rates of alcohol abuse among twelve- to seventeen-year-olds were also red states.
    • In 2002, the per capita rate of gonorrhea in red states was 140 per 100,000; in blue states, it was 99 per 100,000.
    [ from Bill Press's outstanding book, How the Republicans Stole Religion, pp. 2-3 ]

    States with the highest rates of Violent crimes (# per 100,000)
    States2003
    South Carolina794
    Florida730
    Maryland704
    Tennessee688
    New Mexico665
    Delaware658
    Louisiana646
    Nevada614
    Alaska593
    California579
    FBI "uniform crime reports" for 2003, Table # 5

     

     

            The more civilized states and nations in the world no longer execute offenders who are 18 or younger at the time of their offenses. But the more backward nations and states (all of them conservative) continue to do so. Here are the worst examples, since 1990.
    Nations :#U. S. states : #
    Iran8 Texas11
    Pakistan3 Virginia3
    Oklahoma2
    The Congo, China, Nigeria, Yemen and Saudi Arabia1 Georgia, Missouri & Louisiana1

    poll results

    Despite records like that, the conservative Republican front organization,
    the "Christian Coalition" sees nothing but good in the Republican Party,
    and nothing but evil in the Democratic Party. :

    Christian Coalition scorecard

    Religious Presidential vote in 2004

    Vote by Income Level

    [ from http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=240 ]

    The Federal minimum wage of
    $5.15 an hour was just fine
    ( from 1996 through 2006 elections )
    in "compassionate conservative"
    "Christian", "family value"
    Republican states like :
    Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming Fed. Min.
    Florida $6.40
    Alaska, where the cost
    of living is much higher
    than in any other state :    		 $7.15
    Even before the 2006 elections,
    the Federal minimum wage of $5.15
    an hour was not good enough
    in "godless, secular" liberal
    Democratic states like :
    New Hampshire, Fed. Min.
    Pennsylvania, Wisconsin $5.70
    Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, Maine, New York, Hawaii, New Jersey, Illinois, California, Massachusetts, $6.15 to $6.75
    District of Columbia,
    Michigan, Rhode Island    		 about $7.00
    Vermont, Connecticut,
    Oregon, Washington    		$7.25 to $7.63

          Pictures of the charts above are available in addition to the tables above: BlueMinWage.jpg vs . RedMinWage.jpg.  As of October, 2006 (prior to the 2006 elections, in which several progressive initiatives improved the situation in several of the Red states above, only two of the 33 conservative states had seen fit to require minimum wage workers be paid more than the disgraceful 1997 national minimum wage, while only ONE of the 17 liberal states had not seen fit to require higher minimum wages within their own borders.
          Contrary to the claim by opponents to raises in the minimum wage that such increases result in job losses, states which have increased the minimum wage have seen job increases.
    Oregon likes minimum wage increase, claims job growth

    States with minimum wage increase have faster small business growth, Fiscal Policy Institute.
    (if this paper should cease to be available at this link, email me if you would like me to send you a copy.)

    Policy Matters Ohio, minimum wage increase, job growth

    New Mexico study: Minimum wage law hasn't hurt job growth

          And contrary to unsupported claims that most minimum wage workers are teen-agers, the majority of such workers – according to official statistics – are over 20, and many have children to support.
    From an AP news item:
            In last 2006, the House agreed to a $3,100 pay raise for Congress next year to $165,200 after defeating an effort to roll it back.
            "It’s not a pay raise,” said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. “It’s an adjustment so that they’re not losing their purchasing power.”
             Federal minimum wage has been $5.15 since 1997. Loss of purchasing power: About 19.4%.
            In 1997, Congressional salaries were $133,600. The congressmen have raised their salaries a whopping $31,600 since 1997, or 23.7%, but have failed to provide any adjustment of even one penny to enable the working poor to cope with the tremendous increase in the cost of living since 1997.
    Sources:
          Table designed by Ray Dubuque, using data extracted from Murder Rates: FBI Uniform Crime Statistics for 2003.

            On March 1, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that children under age 18, who commit serious crimes such as murder, may not be executed, and stated that execution of children constitutes a violation of the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. It should be noted that more than half of the countries in the world have entirely eliminated the death penalty, and that there are four international human rights treaties that exclude child offenders from the death penalty. In a worldwide study of the execution of children between 1994 and 2002, two-thirds of the executions of children occurred in the United States.
            While it has been said that Bush was elected by the "values voters", I have previously found that the states that voted for Bush in the November, 2004 election had higher divorce rates, higher murder rates, and higher teen pregnancy rates. So, when I heard that there were 19 states that had allowed execution of children, I wondered if the "values voters" states – those who voted for Bush – were more or less likely to allow the execution of children. Following is the list of states that allowed execution of children prior to the Supreme Court ruling, and how they voted in the recent presidential election.
    Conservative States that believe in executing children :
    Alabama                Arizona              Arkansas                 Florida
    Georgia                   Idaho              Kentucky              Louisiana
    North Carolina          Utah                Mississippi             Nevada
    South Carolina         Texas               Oklahoma               Virginia
    Liberal States that believe in executing children :
    Delaware             New Hampshire             Pennsylvania
            Of the 19 states that did allow execution of children, sixteen are considered "conservative".  So, not only do conservative "values voters" have higher rates of divorce, murder, and teen pregnancy, they are also more likely to execute children. The notion that conservative voters have higher moral standards is a myth, and is not supported by the facts.  If you find this information useful, feel free to pass it on to your friends.

    American Religiosity by state

    ReligiositybyState1
    ReligiositybyState2

            For some great graphs comparing economic conditions under Democratic vs. Republican presidents, see my Liberal-Insights.Org/about/busheconomy.html.
            When people think of political corruption, they are probably aware of a few scandals involving Democrats, but ask them to point to significant scandals involving contemporary liberal Democrats, as opposed to scandals dating back decades, when the Democratic Party was dominated by conservative Southerners.  They won't be able to come up with anything near the corruption that has dominated the Republican Party in recent years (i.e. since its take-over by the "Bible Belt" conservatives), as I lay bare at
    JesusNoRepublican.Org/about/gopcorruption.html.

    For more great ideas to help liberal Democrats win elections, see my
    Liberal-Insights.Org/about/WinningStrategy.html

            One of the best comparisons that I have found on the www of the major political philosophies in the U.S.A. is http://www.republicanliberty.org/libdex/li2005_over.htm , which views them all through the libertarian lens, but does so very objectively and intelligently.

    Here's the scorecard of the records of all the members of Congress
    regarding issues important to the GLBT community :
    www.hrc.org/documents/HRCscorecard2006.pdf.

     

              Get the 2008 book on
    the way the secular U.S. media
    was duped into believing the
    myth of the overwhelming power
    of the "Religious Right" :

    Correlation between level of education & Presidential vote ( in 2004 )
    The overwhelming majority of states
    with more citizens with college degrees went for Kerry,
    while those with fewer citizens with college degrees went for Bush :

    State : %
    Maryland37.6
    Colorado35.7
    Virginia34.6
    Massachusetts34.3
    Connecticut32.6
    New Jersey31.4
    Vermont30.8
    Minnesota30.5
    New Hampshire30.1
    Rhode Island30.1
    Delaware29.5
    Kansas 29.1
    New York28.8
    Washington28.3
    California27.9
    Illinois27.3
    Nebraska27.1
    State : %
    S. Dakota23.6
    S. Carolina23.3
    Iowa 23.1
    Alabama 22.7
    Michigan22.5
    N. Carolina22.4
    Louisiana22.1
    Nevada 22.1
    Kentucky21.6
    Tennessee21.5
    Idaho 20.9
    Mississippi20.9
    Oklahoma20.4
    Wyoming 19.6
    Arkansas18.3
    W. Virginia15.9
    State : %
    Oregon27.1
    Hawaii26.8
    Utah 26.8
    Missouri26.7
    Arizona 26.3
    Texas 26.2
    Pennsylvania26.1
    Florida 25.7
    Alaska 25.6
    New Mexico25.4
    N. Dakota25.3
    Georgia25.0
    Wisconsin24.7
    Ohio 24.5
    Maine 23.8
    Indiana 23.7
    Montana 23.6
    Of the 25 best educated states, 19 voted for liberal Democrats,
    while 22 of the 25 least educated states voted for conservative Republicans.
    = former Confederate "Dixiecrat" states

    Gallup 2009 poll results, asking Americans
    how they identified themselves

    Clergy and Mainline Congregants on Social and Economic Issues
    Issue:%%%
    Abortion…General
    population    		 Mainline
    Clergy    		All Mainline
    Protestants
    Legal in all cases171323
    Legal in most cases333840
    combination of the 2 above
    (i.e. generally supportive )    		505163
    Illegal in most cases294227
    Illegal in all cases1878
    combination of the 2 above
    (i.e. generally opposed)    		474935
    Unsure / don't know3–2
    Same sex MarriageGeneral
    population    		 Mainline
    Clergy    		All Mainline
    Protestants
    Gay couples allowed to marry293334
    Gay couples allowed civil unions283236
    combination of the 2 above
    (i.e. generally supportive )    		576570
    No legal recognition373526
    Unsure / don't know6–4
    Government should
    guarantee health care    		 General
    population    		Mainline
    Clergy    		 All Mainline
    Protestants
    Strongly Agree / Favor323829
    Agree / Favor272932
    combination of the 2 above
    (i.e. generally supportive)    		596761
    Disagree / Oppose201320
    Strongly Disagree / Oppose17814
    combination of the 2 above
    (i.e. generally opposed)    		372134
    Unsure / don't know4125
            Although Ray Dubuque enhanced presentation of the chart above, all of the data is from
    http://www.publicreligion.org/research/published/?id=167 ( and from this PDF file,)

    Change in the numbers of Americans
    agreeing with the statements :    		% in
    2001    		% in
    2008    		% of
    change
    "Religion as a whole is loosing its influence on American life." 3962+ 23
    "Organized religion should have less influence in this nation."2234+ 12
    "Having a baby outside of marriage is morally acceptable." 4555+ 10
    "Gay relationships are morally acceptable." 4048+ 18
    "Divorce is morally acceptable." 5970+ 11
    "Sex between an unmarried man and woman is morally acceptable." 5361+ 8
    "Stem cell research on human embryos is morally acceptable." 5262+ 10
    The data above appears to have come from data collected
    by the Pew Research Center, by way of the New York Times
    [ http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/other/26blow4_charts.pdf ].
    Here's much more from Pew Research:
    people-press.org/report/312/trends-in-political-values-and-core-attitudes-1987-2007

    Pages :  1    2   of   graphs
    Contact  
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    Ray@Liberal-Insights.Org
    There is much more where this came from, at Liberal insights
    and/or
    Liberals Like Christ